James King's special blend of hip-hop

February 21, 2013|By Jessica Hopper, Special to the Tribune

For James King, the sound of his future is rooted in his past. Born in Chicago to Nigerian parents, King got to know Nigerian culture directly when his family moved back there for a time when he was 10. The music he heard there, including recordings of African artists his parents played at home, has a sizable influence on the hip-hop he is creating now, at 23.

His initial music-making efforts as a young teenager were a bit less considered. "My sister had this, uh, Barbie microphone-box thing. I used to record into it all the time, make beats with my mouth," King laughs. Two years later, a cousin gave him digital studio software that allowed him to record and make beats, and he began to build tracks based on that, and dropped the Barbie-mic technique.

King wanted to make something akin to "video game-style music," something synthetic-sounding and electronic, but was also in love with hip-hop and its beats. His initial compositions juggled the two into something up tempo and beat heavy. King learned fast and found the process of making tracks easy to master. "I am pretty technical, so to me, it was all just math and melody," King says.

A few years later King, aka The GTW, started taking in other influences, which immediately made themselves apparent — his electronic music began to meld with soulful African influences and all manner of Brazilian music he discovered, mutating into the current sound of his GTW project.

His inspiration for digging into those other genres came in through a back door, soccer's World Cup. King, a life-long fan of the game, was especially excited for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and wanted to make a mixtape that celebrated the cultures and countries of some of his favorite teams. "I spun my fascination with Nigerian, Brazilian and South African music into my first mixtape," he says.

King, who now lives in suburban Hazel Crest, grew up hearing a lot of soca and a favorite of his father's, South African reggae superstar Lucky Dube, whom he pulled from directly. King had also discovered South African artists that he admired for their blend of contemporary dance music with traditional aspects of African music. Amid his exploration of other cultures, he uncovered a lot that he connected to. "Samba, a lot of samba spoke to me," says King. "Sergio Mendes. Salsa. Brazilian jazz."

In the few years since, in his recorded GTW work and his live sets, he happily indulges the influence of whatever new thing he is into. King says he is experimenting, in search of finding his perfect sound. "I might sing in a lower voice, and then people say, 'Oh, I like that.' Or, 'I like you rapping,'" he laughs.

Nevertheless, he feels like he is getting closer to perfection, to knowing what GTW will truly be. "I am at the point where I know how to bring my sound together — where it sounds (like) everywhere but it is structured."

As much as his work is figuring out what sounds best express who he is and where he has been, King says that his real focus in making music is building something beyond himself. "I am interested in helping build a culture where all these things are mixed and people can come together."